The countdown to the Toboggan World Championships is on – three more days

The world championship for natural track tobogganing begins on Thursday with the training runs on the Pföslriep toboggan run in Nova Ponente. Patrick Pigneter from Völs and Ekatharina Lavrentjeva from Russia will of course be the big favorites for gold. The two top stars of natural track tobogganing are still undefeated on the demanding Deutschnofen toboggan run - both won the previous two World Cup races in 2009 and 2012. The same applies to the Pigneter/Clara double.

But the competition is strong. For men, for example, Patrick Pigneter suffered his first defeat in the single-seater World Cup in two years (February 2011) at the World Cup in Moos in Passeier, if second place can be described as a defeat. He had to admit defeat to Thomas Kammerlander, the brother of the reigning world champion Gerald Kammerlander. Incidentally, Thomas Kammerlander has good memories of the Deutschnofner Bahn: He won bronze there at the Junior World Championships in 2010. At the Deutschnofen World Cup a year ago he came sixth. But Pigneter fought back on Sunday in Umhausen – and took his ninth victory in the tenth race.

The circle of gold contenders also includes Hannes Clara from Val Badia, who stayed only 36 hundredths of a second behind Pigneter at the World Cup dress rehearsal a year ago in Deutschnofen - despite a horror fall in training. Clara, like Pigneter, feels right at home on the Deutschnofner track, where he became junior world champion in 2010. Nevertheless – Patrick Pigneter remains the hunted.

Who can hold a candle to Lavrentjeva? Among the women, the Russian Ekatharina Lavrentjeva is the mega favorite: Reigning World Cup winner, never worse than second at the World Championships since 2003, and undefeated in Nova Ponente. But a World Cup sometimes has its own rules. The South Tyrolean hopes now rest not least on Evelin Lanthaler, who came third in Nova Ponente a year ago behind Lavrentjeva and Gietl, who retired in December, and was crowned junior world champion on this track in 2010.

Especially in Moos in Passeier, Lanthaler only lost 14 hundredths of a second to Lavrentjeva on her home track and achieved the best time in the second run. Also worth noting is the 17-year-old Greta Pinggera from Val Venosta, reigning vice world champion among juniors, who came second and fourth in the two World Cup races of the season so far.

Can Pigneter/Clara dethrone the Russians Porshnev/Lazarev?

According to the World Cup results of the season so far, the South Tyrolean top favorites Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara face particular danger in the doubles from the Austrians Christian and Andreas Schopf, cousins of Thomas Schopf, and the Russians Pavel Porhnev/Iwan Lazarev. The latter are none other than the reigning world champions and overall World Cup winners. They also won the last World Cup race before the World Championships in Umhausen.

In the team competition, the South Tyrolean toboggans are the top favorites - despite Lavrentjeva and Porschnew/Lazarev. The medals will be awarded there on Friday, in the doubles and singles only on Saturday or Sunday.

Further information about the Natural Track Toboggan World Championships in Deutschnofen is available here !

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The countdown to the Toboggan World Championships is on – three more days

The World Cup has been hosted in Deutschnofen twice so far, and Patrick Pigneter, Ekatharina Lavrentjeva and the double Patrick Pigneter/Florian Clara triumphed twice. And just a few days before the World Cup, these lugers are in top form.

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